Yesterday evening we returned from our Kansas City trip. We had such a great time. We stayed with friends with whom we were in Russia on one of our trips. They are such gracious and fun people and we all really had a lot of fun and laughs while we were there. They have two girls from Russia, an almost three year old and a five year old. The boys had so much fun with the girls and it was so cute to watch. The five year old would hold both of the boys' hands and lead them around and they really liked it. It was adorable. Watching all four of the kids playing together made me think that God surely must have meant for people to have larger families, since children clearly thrive in that situation.
We went to K.C. to visit our friends but we also went to attend their homeschooling convention. This was the first homeschooling convention we had ever been to and it was quite an exciting thing for me. I really enjoyed it. There were many wonderful speakers and a couple that were just OK. The great thing is that you can buy CD's of the seminars that you miss so my husband and I listened to three of them on the way home, while the boys slept. I really enjoyed walking around the exhibit hall and seeing all of the wonderful tools available to homeschoolers these days. It is really amazing how much is out there now to make our jobs easier. There was one speaker who talked about "Homeschooling in the Real World" who I especially liked. That was one of the CD's that we listened to on the way home and my husband really liked it too. The speaker had some great information and advice. He and his wife are the authors/owners of the 'Our Father's World' curriculum, which I enjoyed learning more about.
Before attending the convention, I had been leaning towards the 'Tapestry of Grace' curriculum. They were there also, as was the Sonlight folks, which my friend in K.C. is leaning towards. So she and I both enjoyed getting to talk to reps for all three curriculums and compare and contrast them. After doing this, she is still leaning towards Sonlight and I am leaning towards My Father's World, although we still have a couple of years before we need to make a decision, so we will keep our eyes and ears open and keep praying about it.
We went to church with our friends yesterday and then we all went out to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. I had been to one a couple of times in Houston but our sons and the dad had not been. All of the kids really enjoyed it. After that, we let them ride a carousel twice. This was the prettiest carousel I have ever seen. It was actually a two story carousel, which I had never seen before.
As we left for home, both boys fell asleep not long into the trip. Nick slept until we drove into our city and Ben woke up just a little before that and had a snack. So we had an easy trip back and we drove straight through, which was nice. On the trip there, we stopped about half way to eat and let the kids play, so it added about an hour and a half to our trip.
It was a bit colder and wetter there than it was here so the kids did not get to play outside. Also, I had not seen them for the largest part of two days, which is the longest time I have been away from them since I was in the hospital. So this morning, we just took it easy and had fun all morning long. We read books, ate a late breakfast, stayed in our PJ's later than usual, and colored, cut and paste paper. We went upstairs to get them some clothes and stayed for a while so the boys could jump on the beds. Then we all laid down together on one bed and read a book and then read their Bible and prayed. After that, we got ready to go to the park. We had a beautiful morning at the park. The weather was cool but not cold and it was sunny with bright, blue skies. There were very few people at the park, which was nice because the boys could have a lot more freedom to run around and try different things. We took a walk along the creek in the park and looked at waterfalls, ducks, birds and squirrels. We stopped to look at ants and threw rocks and sticks off the small bridge, into the water below. We ate snacks as we walked and met a dog as we were leaving the park. The boys got to feed the dog a fish cracker, which they thought was great fun.
We came back and read some more books, at lunch, played and, finally, it was time for nap, which is where we are now. What a beautiful day. It just does not get much better than this:).
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